Hello I am B.J. Habermehl. Been working with metal since highschool. Had a smithy in my old garage untill I discovered I had adult onset asthma so the coal fired forge had to go. I have been forgeless for a few years and am planning to set up a gas fired unit up. Been building black powder rifles for 17 years, and I have found that I need a forge again to make lock plates ect. Talk about Iron in the blood, Dad was a Marine Machineist in the Philly Navy Yd. Grand Father on Dad's side was a blacksmith and machineist for the RR. His dad was a blacksmith also for the railroad also. Funny how family trades sometimes run. B.J. Habermehl

Welcome to IforgeIron, Pa.Dutchman!
With your background, sounds like you've probably picked up a lot of metalworking knowledge. Your expertise could come in handy!
There's lots of information here , and lots of friendly folks.
Enjoy!

Hey BJ, Wie gehts? Ya come to a nice place to hang out. Where ya from over there? I'm on the west side of the mountains in Armstrong Co. bruce/birdog

Welcome B.J. Even using a gas forge there is still lots of iron dust (Black Boogers!) in the air. You might want to wear a mask to filter out more of the black stuff. I've tried cheap paper masks and still get the black, you might look into surgeon type cloth mask.

Larry

I live in the town of Northumberland in Northunberland Co. If ya have a map handy follow the Susquehanna north till it splits into two branches. I live 1 mile from the split. BJH

hey budy i live down in adamstown near the t-pike
i belong to PABA what organizations do you guys belong to if any.

Larry,Thanks for the heads up about the oxide dust. Luckly I'm not real dust sensitive, My problem with my old soft coal forge was due to smoke. Even though I had a verry eficient hood and chimney set up, coal is not a B.J. friendly fuel. BJH

Respirators with any significant intake pressure requirements can be hard on asthmatics. If you get to where you need to use one look into positive pressure systems that pump filtered air to your "mask" cutting down on the load on the lungs---you can build your own too.

Saw a bladesmith who had one for his grinding area. Filtered intake located outside of the shop blown by a small squirrel cage fan to a flexible vent hose that went from the ceiling to the top of a hardhat with face shield that he had cut a hole in for the pipe.

In use the flow is over the head and out the sides of the mask so no dust or fumes gets inside, doesn't fog up like some tight face masks/goggles do either and in the summer it acted as a cooler for the wearer. (don't know what he did in the winter...)